Walking back to my dorm, I considered the possibilities. If I performed to the best of my abilities, which I believed I had done, then perhaps I had a chance of breaking the top 700. There were some seriously skilled people here, and I was definitely out of my league against a few of them.
As I walked, I looked towards the night sky, observing the stars scattered across like dots of paint on a black canvas. My sword, still pulsing in its sheath, seemed to be reacting to something nearby.
"Huh? What's going on with my sword?" I asked myself, taking it out of the sheath. I held it in front of me, and it began to glow brighter. Then, a beam of light started to extend out from it towards the sky.
"Whoa, this is strange, is my sword reacting to...outer space?" I asked myself, amazed at what was happening. The handle of my sword got warmer as well.
The beam of light made its way toward the cosmos. It was a brilliant violet beam intertwined with white and blue light. It shot across the sky, eventually pointing itself to a nearby star that I could not identify.
"I wonder where it's trying to go... it seems to be attracted to that star, because if I move my sword this way, the light bends to remain on its course...strange..." I thought to myself. Suddenly, I heard a rustling noise from the distance, and then~~~
*SLICE*
"What the hell?" I shouted as the beam of light was suddenly cut in half by an intercepting force. It was so sudden, like turning a flashlight off. I didn't even know you could "cut light", or at least that's what I assumed had happened.
I quickly held my sword out in front of me, prepared to defend myself if someone were to attack, but nobody was there. It was just me, alone by the fountain which flowed gently next to me.
"Who's there?" I asked, ducking behind the fountain for cover. If an unusual were to attack me this early in my career, I might be in some real danger...
I peeked across the water and saw nothing, but I could hear clear footsteps approaching me. Soon after, I saw the silhouette of someone approaching. Had they perhaps followed the beam of light to my location?
"Who are you?" I asked, apprehensively. Suddenly, the being vanished, phasing out of existence. I was freaked out at this point and quickly made my way away from the fountain. I grabbed my sword and started swinging randomly, until~~
*DING*
My sword hit something...but I could not see it. Had I struck an invisible force of some sort?
I then looked up and realized what I had struck. It was a person, they had regained visibility without me knowing, and perfectly blocked my strike despite its seemingly random trajectory.
"You ought to be more careful around here, understand?" said the boy.
"Who are you?" I asked, gazing at the boy standing in front of me. He had long silver hair and wore a grey robe with a "K" inscribed on it. He was wielding a shortsword, or perhaps a long dagger. I wasn't quite sure what it was, but it was able to block my sword effortlessly.
"The name's Ryuko. Ryuko Uchida, and you are?"
"Hachiro Karasagi. What are you doing stalking me?" I asked.
"It's my job. Don't take it the wrong way, though, I'm not trying to harm you or scare you. I'm just making sure you're okay out here by yourself. That beam of light your sword produced could easily attract unusuals to your location."
I was relieved to know that the boy meant no harm, but he was right. I was unintentionally putting myself in danger by simply holding my weapon. Whoever this guy was, he was experienced.
"Now that I think about it, that sword looks awfully familiar to the one Tsukasa uses. May I see it for a second? I promise I'll give it back." said Ryuko.
"..Tsukasa?" I said, thinking back to the boy I saw on TV the week prior.
I gave him my sword, and he analyzed it. I could tell the sword wasn't eager to be handled by him, as Ryuko was in discomfort holding it, and the sword was pulsing aggressively.
"That's some blade you have there, Tsukasa has one similar to it, but it's much more refined. Here, take it before it melts my arm off, it's clearly rejecting me."
He gave the sword back to me, and it calmed down instantly.
"So, do you know what was up with that beam of light? My sword seemed to be connecting to the skies." I said. Ryuko closed his eyes and pondered to himself.
"Well, there are some people that I know that have extraordinary abilities related to the cosmos and far reaches of the universe, but they're incredibly rare. What are your abilities? Do you know?"
"I've always had a knack for sword fighting since I was young, and I could always kinda "see" openings in my opponents fighting. It was almost as if my body just knew when and where to strike, and the urge would hit me at the exact moment my opponent let their guard down."
"Ahh, heightened intuitive perception, a classic one. I have that as well, and so do a lot of other extraordinary individuals. It wouldn't explain the beam of light, though... maybe you have a hidden ability that you haven't uncovered yet."
Ryuko scratched his head and looked off into the distance. We were next to a lake, the moon reflecting off its surface, but there was something else reflecting in the water, floating in the sky above us. Ryuko took notice of it immediately.
"Now that I think about it, there is someone I know who could have an answer to your question, and they just so happen to be nearby...Akira, come down here, please."
"..down here?" I asked, looking back up into the sky. Floating above us was a girl with short blonde hair, a white shirt, and a purple vest. She had a white flower in her hair.
"Mmehehe, you just had to ruin my fun didn't you Ryuko." said the girl, floating down from above. She had an iridescent, almost crystalline aura around her.
"Oh come on, two of you are stalking me? What's with this place?"
"Don't worry, we're just looking out for you... you have potential, we watched your entrance exam, and we want to keep you safe. It will all become clear later." said Ryuko.
Akira landed and began to look at me. Immediately, I could feel my heartbeat rising. Standing before me were two clearly powerful people. Like Ryuko, she also had a "K" inscribed on her outfit.
"You two are starting to freak me out. What's going on here?" I asked.
"This is Akira Kobayashi, she's a 3rd year, and she's an esper. She has the ability to control things with her mind, and to this day I still don't understand it."
"You never will, unless you one day gain powers yourself," she said.
"Anyway, Hachiro here has a question, and I think you'll be able to answer it. Go ahead Hachiro, ask away," said Ryuko.
Still in shock from what had just happened, I gathered myself and asked Akira the same question I asked Ryuko.
"So, when I unsheathed my sword, a beam of light started shooting out of it towards the sky. Why did this happen?"
"Hmm...could you demonstrate it for me?" asked Akira.
I followed her directions and took my sword out once more. Like before, it began to pulse, before emitting a powerful beam of light into the sky, reaching the same destination as before. It was attracted to a singular point in space.
"Ahhhh, I've seen this reaction before. Your sword's just looking for an available spirit because it's eager to be inhabited. Ryuko, how did you not know this?"
"Well, I assumed he had already found a sword spirit. Swords usually don't glow at all until a spirit inhabits it, why is his glowing now?" asked Ryuko.
"Hmm, that actually puzzles me as well now that I think about it. Hachiro, was your sword ever inhabited by a spirit previously?"
"Well, this was my dad's old sword, and he said he had a spirit named Mira that helped him when he was my age, but he said she's long gone..."
"Oh...oh...I know what it's doing...it's kind of sad actually..." said Akira, frowning.
"Well, what is his sword doing??" asked Ryuko. I too was interested to hear what Akira had to say.
"Well...spirits can die, just like humans can, but they don't "die" the same way we do. They dissipate when their job is complete, and they have served their individual. Your father's spirit Mira probably dissipated, and her particles more than likely are floating in space right now."
"Your sword's beam of light was probably attracted to Mira's particles, in an attempt to revive her... it's been years since that sword was ever inhabited, and it's trying desperately to find a replacement, which is why it's pulsing so actively..."
The truth was sadder than I expected it to be. My father's sword had been desperately trying to find Mira after all these years, and all it could find were her remains, floating in space. It was then, that I noticed the path of light begin to change direction.
"Wait, it's moving again, what's going on?" I asked.
"Perhaps Mira's remains are shifting? But now that I'm looking at it, it's moving kind of quick..." said Akira.
We both followed the new trajectory of the light beam. It ended up pointing to a bush nearby, where we could see the top of somebody's head poking out from it. The leaves were rustling, someone was hiding...
"Who are you?" I asked. The figure then emerged slowly from the bushes...she wasn't human...there was no way she could be. Her features resembled that of a person, but she was almost...spectral. Was she a ghost?
"...um, I hope I'm not intruding on your conversation..." said the ghost girl.
"Aha! Hachiro, it seems you've found yourself a spirit, and pretty quickly too... you should introduce yourself," said Akira, nudging me closer to the ghost girl. Ryuko had a look of apprehension on his face.
"..My name is Celeste, and I'm a sword spirit.."